Milk bottle carrier



July 2, 1935. w. s. SHIPLEY 2,007,064

MILK BOTTLE CARRIER Filed July 20, 1953 Patented July 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT Fries MILK BOTTLE CARRIER Application July 20, 1933, Serial No. 681,379

4 Claims.

This invention relates to bottle carriers, and more particularly to a carrier adapted for use in the handling of milk bottles.

An object of this invention is to provide a care nor which is exceedingly lightin construction but at the same time sufiiciently strong to carry the desired quantity of bottles so that there will be a minimum of handling of the bottles by the delivery man.

Another object of this invention is to provide a carrier of this kind which is so constructed that it will eliminate the necessity of the removal separately by the delivery man of each bottle from the crate in which the bottles are normally placed when being transported.

A further object of this invention is to provide a carrier of this'type which is so constructed that certain of the bottles disposed in the carrier can be released therefrom while others in the carrier will be held against release.

The above and various other objects and advantages of this invention will in part be described and in part be understood from the following detailed description of the present pre- 25 ferred embodiment, the same being illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a detail top plan view of a carrier constructed according to the preferred embodiment of this invention.

30 Figure 2 is a detail side elevation of the device showing in dotted lines a number of bottles disposed in'the carrier.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

35 Referring to the drawing wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the views, the letter F designates generally a rectangular frame structure which is constructed of a single piece of wire, the ends of 1) which are suitably welded or otherwise secured together to form a closed frame. The sides id of this frame F are provided at spaced intervals with outwardly offset curved portions II.

A substantially U-shaped bracing member 52' is secured in upstanding position with the frame F as by spot welding l3 or the like, and the parallel legs of these U-shaped bracing members l2 are disposed at the outermost point of the curved portions I I, so that when the bottles are disposed in the frame F, the bracing members I! will also act as a stopor limiting means to limit the lowering of the frame over the top of the bottles. A hinge bar or pintle l4 extends longitudinally of the frame F, being secured as by spot welding or 5 the like, to the ends l5 of the frame Transversely extending bracing members i 6 are secured at each end to the side frame members I!) and are disposed at points intermediate the curved bottle engaging portions ii of the frame so as to hold the side frame members ill from 5 spreading. These intermediate bracing members it are provided at substantially the central point with loops ll engaging about the hinge bar 34.

A swingable bottle locking means, generally designated as is, is mounted on the hinge bar 10 it. This locking member i8, inthe present instance, is constructed in the form of an elongated plate is provided at spaced intervals with cut out portions 20 which are complementary to the out-. wardly offset portions ii so that the neck of a. bottle will be loosely received between the offset portion ii and the cut out portion 20. These plates l9 are provided with hinge barrels 2! engaging the hinge bar It. In practice, there are two of these locking members is, one on each side of the hinge bar It, so that two parallel rows of bottles can be releasably disposed in the frame F.

A handle H of substantially U-shaped construction is secured to each locking member l8, and the free ends of the parallel legs 22 of the 5 handle H are preferably bent inwardly, as at 23, and disposed beneath the locking member I!) and secured thereto as by welding, soldering, or the like. There is a handle H for each locking bar, and these handles are disposed in side by side relation so that when the carrier has bottles dis= posedtherein, these two handles may be grasped as a unit and the gripping of the handles will hold the handles in'locking position so as to prevent the bottles B from being released from the frame.

In the use of this carrier, the frame F is disposed over the desired bottles in a crate, or hottles which are placed in one or more rows, and

the U-shaped members ii at each end of the frame F are grasped in the hand and the handles H released. These handles H are so disposed that when they are released, they will gravitatingly swing outwardly into released-position and carry therewith the locking members I8. The frameF can then be lowered over the tops of the bottles, whereupon the handles H are drawn together, thereby swinging the locking members l8 into locked position and in this position, the rims R of the bottles B will be disposed on the top of the frame F and the top of the locking members 18. When it is desired to release the bottles from at least one s'de of the frame F, one

of the handles H can be re eased and the other held in the hand, whereupon the weight of the removing the bottles from the crate, nor will it be necessary for the delivery man to touch the empty bottles with his hands, as this carrier can be readily lowered over the tops of the empty bottles as well as the full bottles.

It is, of course, understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:--

1. A carrier as set forth, comprising a substantially rectangular frame having curved bottle engaging portions, a bar extending longitudinally of the frame in substantially the transverse center thereof and secured at its ends to the ends of the frame, a pair of bottle locking members extending longitudinally of the frame and pivotally secured to the bar in opposed relation, and a pair of carrying handles secured one to each locking member, each carrying handle comprising a U-shaped member having outwardly extending obtusely related lower portions on the free legs thereof, each lower portion having a reverted and substantially horizontally disposed extension secured to and extending transversely of a locking member whereby to overbalance each handle in an outward direction to cause a locking member to gravitatingly swing to released position upon release of a handle.

2. A carrier as set forth, comprising a substantially rectangular frame having curved bottle engaging portions, a bar extending longitudinally of the frame in substantially the transverse center thereof and secured at its ends to the ends of the frame, a pair of bottle locking members extending longitudinally of the frame and pivotally secured to the bar in opposed relation and a pair of carrying handles secured one to each locking member, each carrying handle comprising a U-shaped member having outwardly extending obtusely related lower portions on the free legs thereof, each lower portion having a reverted and substantially horizontally disposed extension secured to the under side of the locking member and extending transversely thereof whereby to overbalance each handle in an outward direction upon release of the handle to cause a locking member to gravitatingly swing to released position.

3. A carrier as set forth, comprising a. substantially rectangular frame having curved bottle engaging portions, a bar extending longitudinally of the frame in substantially the transverse center thereof and secured at its ends to the ends of the frame, a pair of bottle locking members extending longitudinally of the frame and pivotally secured to the bar in opposed relation and a pair of carrying handles secured one to each locking member, each carrying handle comprising a U-shaped member having outwardly extending lower portions on each free leg thereof whereby to dispose the upper portion of the two handles in substantially side by side relation, each lower portion having a reverted and substantially horizontally disposed extension secured to and extending transversely of a locking member whereby to overbalance each handle in an outward direction to cause a locking member to gravitatingly swing to released position upon release of a handle.

4. A carrier as set forth, comprising a substantially rectangular frame having opposed bottle engaging portions, a bar extending longitudinally of theframe in substantially the transverse :enter thereof and secured at its ends to the ends of the frame, a pair of bottle locking members extending longitudinally of the frame and pivotally secured to the bar in opposed relation, 2, pair of carrying handles secured one to each locking member, each carrying handle comprising a U-shaped member having outwardly extending lower portions on the free legs thereof, each lower portion having a reverted and substantially horizontally disposed extension secured to and extending transversely of a locking member whereby to overbalance each handle in an outward direction to cause a locking member to gravitatingly swing to released position upon release of a handle, and a bottle limiting member secured to the frame and overlying the curved portions thereof for engagement with the upper end of a bottle to limit the insertion of a bottle in the frame.

WILLIAM SHERMAN SHIPLEY. 

